By Junno Arocho Esteves Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — Calling for concrete actions that benefit human life and the environment, Pope Francis proposed adding the care and protection of creation to the traditional list of corporal and spiritual works of mercy. As a spiritual work of mercy, the pope said, care for creation requires […]

By Junno Arocho Esteves Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — Retired Pope Benedict XVI said in an interview that he felt a “duty” to resign from the papacy because of his declining health and the rigorous demands of papal travel. While his heart was set on completing the Year of Faith, the retired pope told […]

By Junno Arocho Esteves Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — Learning to walk in the shoes of a “foreigner” is not on the formal syllabus of the Pontifical North American College, but it happens. The students at the U.S. bishops’ seminary in Rome know they have a place to eat, sleep, pray and study, but […]

By Bronwen Dachs Catholic News Service CAPE TOWN, South Africa — While most expatriate aid workers left South Sudan after a brutal attack on foreigners in the capital, a group of Catholic missionaries chose to stay. “We stayed because we are committed to the ordinary people who are suffering so much,” La Sallian Christian Brother […]

By Marnie McAllister Catholic News Service NAZARETH, Ky. — The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth commit in their mission statement to “risk their lives” in their ministry to the poor and vulnerable. “You don’t know what that’s going to be like or look like,” said Sister Susan Gatz, president of the religious order. “But now […]

By Dennis Sadowski Catholic News Service WASHINGTON — Is there a Catholic vote? Well, yes. Kind of. Voting patterns show Catholics vote much like the rest of America, with minor swings one way or the other, depending on the candidate and the state. Nevertheless, the Catholic vote still is important, as syndicated columnist, political commentator […]